The Matchstick
by KW2010
Summary: this story takes place sometime after The Dark Knight. see what happens when Cassandra comes face to face with the Joker.
1. Chapter 1

**T H E M A T C H S T I C K**

C H A P T E R O N E

(disclaimer- obviously i do not own Batman, the Joker, or anything else Batman related)

They say that right before you die your life flashes before your eyes. I was amazingly surprised to find some truth in this. As I sat there on the filthy floor in the corner of some dirty abandoned apartment building, I could see parts of my life go by. Considering my 16 years of age, it wasn't a very long flash back. I could see my dad with his full head of black hair and suit that he never leaves home without. And I could see my mom with her long golden-blonde hair and one of her many dresses. I could see my nine year old little brother, Conner, with his slightly curly brown hair and unusual willingness to please his older sister. I could remember all my friends, some better friends than others, and everyone else my life revolved around.

Most of all these things, I could see my house in Gotham City. It was a big house. My dad is Michael West. He works at Wayne Tower along with my mother, Belle, so it's no wonder we could afford such a house. It was in one of the very rare wealthy areas of Gotham. Most of everywhere else was infested with crime. Even our neighborhood of rich lawyers and business men wasn't that safe. Our house stood out from the rest because it had giant glass windows. I remembered the way my eyes almost bugged out of my head when i had first seen it. I tried to talk some sense into my parents, but my mother insisted that she wanted our house filled with light and no low life criminals would get in the way of it. Because of this extra feature of our house we had to take extra security measures. We had a few security guards that made sure no harm was done. I felt like our house was the White House.

By the time my flash back had come and gone, I had started breathing very fast. The room was completely silent. I tried to hear over my own deep breathing for the footsteps that were sure to come. And so they did. I began trembling even harder than I already had as the footsteps became louder and louder.

I should probably tell you about who I am and how I got into this mess. My name is Cassandra. I'm 16 years old, which you already know. I have long black hair, green eyes, and I'm about 5 feet 7 inches tall. You've already heard about my dad, mom, and Conner. I don't have many friends, and of the little friends I have only two names stand out. Laila and Kent. Laila is my best female friend. She is probably the sweetest, most naive person I'll ever meet. She's got beautiful red hair that makes me completely jealous and a personality to match. Kent is my best male friend. If you're thinking that it's one of those romantic stories about the two best friends who fall in love you're wrong. Kent has a girlfriend and I doubt he thinks of me as anything more than a friend. He has sort of long brown hair and brown eyes and, though not nearly as naive, also has a great personality. How did I, an average looking girl with a boring personality (at least that's what I think), ever get such friends? If you can come up with an answer to that, tell me, because I'm still trying to figure out how that works.

So, like a lot of stories, this one begins on just your average day. At 6:00AM I got an unpleasant wake up call from my alarm clock, as always. It was 6:10 before I could drag myself out from under the covers. My parents were already gone, but our security guard/family friend/caretaker for me and Conner, Lizz was there. She lived there with us and took care of Conner and me while our parents worked.

I managed to get into the shower and get dressed before being too late for breakfast. Lizz and Conner were there before me of course.

"I'm not going to be able to pick you up from school today, Cass," Lizz said before stuffing a fork-full of eggs in her mouth.

"That's fine. I'll just drive myself," I sat down hastily. I had just gotten my license but Lizz was a little nervous about my driving skills, so she didn't let me drive myself to school often. She let out a sigh to my solution but didn't object.

When breakfast was finished, I grabbed the keys to my new car and rushed through the door that leads to the garage. I opened the car door and yanked it shut again as i slid into the driver's seat. I sped down the driveway and through our street in a race to get to school.

Laila and Kent were waiting next to the gate of my high school. The bell rang just as I reached them.

"Hey Cassandra," Laila's smile greeted me.

"Hey," I smiled back.

"Late again?" Kent chuckled as we began our walk to class.

"I'm not a morning person," I joked.

When we reached our class the teacher gave us an unwelcoming look.

"Ms. West, Ms. Kramer, Mr. Harrice. Nice for you to join us," he said as we entered the room. He had a habit of calling everyone by their last name. We took out seats and he began to babble on about World War II.

The rest of the school day went on pretty normal. It wasn't until after the final bell rang that things started getting weird.

(author's note- i'm not really sure if this is going to get all "rated M" or not yet, so i rated it that way just in case)


	2. Chapter 2

C H A P T E R

T W O

I waited impatiently for the final bell to ring. As usual, I couldn't stop myself from glancing at the clock every second. It seems like the last few minutes of class are always the longest. Of course my teacher, seeing I was distracted, used the opportunity to ask me the answer to a question I didn't hear.

"Uh…" I started to mutter nervously.

_Ring!_

I sighed in relief as the teacher frowned and excused us from class. I grabbed my bag from the floor and flung it over my shoulder.

"Saved by the bell, huh, Cass?" Laila gave me a half smile. I smiled back. "So are you still giving me a ride?" she asked as we walked out the door.

"Yeah, sure."

Normally she got a ride with Kent to and from school, but he had something to do after class. We pushed our way through the crowds of high school kids and made our way to the parking lot. I looked past the other cars until I found where I thought I had parked, but the space was empty. My eyes scanned through all the cars but I had no luck.

"Hey, Laila, do you see my car?" I questioned nervously, still scanning the cars.

"No… didn't you park over there?" she pointed at the empty space. I felt a jolt of fear as I scanned through the cars a third time.

"Oh no!" I could already feel myself panicking.

"You don't think it was stolen, do you?" she sounded worried.

"I _just_ got that car! My parents are gonna kill me!" I buried my head in my hand. There was no way my parents would let me live this down. How could I lose my brand new car after driving it just a couple times? I'd have to wait until I could buy a car on my own before I'd ever be able to drive again.

"Well, we should report it. Maybe the police will find it," she looked through her bag and retrieved a small phone. This still wasn't a comforting thought. The cars in Gotham were constantly being stolen. Everything in Gotham was constantly stolen. The chances that they would find my car were slim to none. They were probably to busy with important cases anyway.

"Do you think that whatever Kent is doing is too important for him to postpone it?" some of my panic I was trying to hide managed to slip out.

"He said he had to make up a test, but maybe the teacher will let him reschedule," Laila began dialing the number for the police department. She gave me a sympathetic look as she held the phone to her ear.

I started to think up excuses that I could use on my parents as we headed back into the school.

_Hey, mom. I know I've only had my car for a couple weeks, but I think it's time for a change…_

Yeah. That would work.

_And don't bother trying to sell it because I've already taken the liberty of giving it to charity. How can you get mad at me for trying to help those less fortunate?_

Was that the best I could come up with? I had to laugh at my own ridiculous story. I was so distracted I didn't even notice when we reached Kent's classroom. Kent wasn't at all upset that he had to leave his important test to drive us home. Actually he left the room smiling and, as soon as the teacher was no longer within earshot, thanked me for saving him from a failing grade.

"I need to study more before I take that test tomorrow," he sounded concerned. "I swear, I looked at the page and it was like it was written in another language."

"It's Spanish, Kent. It _was_ written in another language," I rolled my eyes at his figure of speech.

"You know what I mean," he smiled. I smiled back as I climbed out of the back seat.

"I'll see you guys later," I slammed the car door shut and waved goodbye to them as they drove off. Fortunately, my parents weren't home yet, so I could continue to be a coward until later on in the evening. I opened the front door and instantly headed for the stairs to make a quick get away.

"Hey, Cass. Where's your car?"

_So close_… I thought as my hand just reached out for the railing.

There went my chance to be a coward and hide out in my room. I took a step back and turned around to see Liz sitting on the couch across the room with a book in her lap. She didn't look surprised that Kent had dropped me off at all.

"That's a good question…" I mumbled.

"What do you mean? I thought you drove to school today…" she immediately sounded worried. It was like she knew that something was just bound to happen to my car as long as I was behind the wheel. Honestly, it made me a little angry. "What happened?" now she sounded a little mad too.

"I think it was… stolen," I managed to choke the words out. I heard her sigh but I couldn't look up from my feet. When it was quiet for a moment and I finally looked up, she actually looked a little relieved.

"Did you call the police?" she asked. Yeah, she was definitely relieved. I felt a little bit of anger come back.

"You thought I crashed it, didn't you?" I accused. She looked shocked.

"That's not what I asked," she took a second to answer.

Well, she hadn't denied it.

"Yes, I did," I tried to muffle my anger.

"We'll have to tell your parents when they get home," she gave me another worried look, then got up off the coach and started to walk out of the room. Was that it? I sighed in relief. There was at least one less person I had to worry about yelling at me. I didn't understand why I should get in trouble anyway. I can't control the crime. The police couldn't even control the crime here. It's not like I hung up a flashing neon sign that read: TAKE ME! on the window.

I walked up the stairs and threw my bag onto my bed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something unusual on my nightstand. Curious, I walked closer to examine the foreign object. I slid out a little white Joker card you could find in any ordinary card deck out from under the lamp. My first instinct was that my brother had been in my room. I studied the card for a second, flipping it over and back, but it was just an ordinary card. I placed it back on the stand and flopped on top of my bed, not bothering to watch out for my bag. I could just give it back to him later and I didn't feel like giving him another "stay out of my room" lecture. It seemed a little unimportant seeing as how I had other problems to worry about.


End file.
